Dragon Fire
by Kaida Shade
Summary: Roxas plans to be the last sacrifice his town will ever have to make to this monster. Unfortunately for him, he got a whole lot more than he bargained for when he went dragon hunting... Rated for safety. Most likely gonna be AkuRoku
1. The Dragon's Last Victim

Hello and welcome to yet another strange little fanfic by yours truly. Just like to point out, this is my first non-crackish, multichaptered KH fic, so I may screw the characters up a little bit (or perhaps a lot). Forgive me if I do, just let me know and I'll try to remedy it.

Also, I don't usually write serious fics in the third person, crack yes, good quality stuff, no. I prefer the first person because I cannot write very well in the third. Call this practice then... yeah, that sounds better than utter fail.

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"No! I will not allow it!" Roxas heard his father's voice drifting up to his attic room from downstairs. He sounded furious. The blonde teen wandered out onto the landing, curious as to what could have roused his father's temper.

"Cloud, we have no choice. If we continue to send the town girls our future could be at stake. There would be no young women left here, and then what would happen?" Roxas leaned over the rail to listen more closely; what was the mayor doing here?

"I will not allow my son to be sent to his death!" Cloud snarled, his hand going to his gigantic sword. Roxas tensed, worried now that this obviously concerned him.

"Those with daughters have already made this sacrifice to the dragon. Isn't it time you gave your share?" Cloud sagged; he knew the mayor was right.

"It demanded girls. It would be angry if we sent a boy."

"It didn't specify gender." The mayor corrected. "It just wanted virgins" Cloud looked like he was going to start shouting again, but Roxas got there first.

"I'll go." He said, descending the wooden staircase to face his father, whose face was the picture of surprise.

"You can't. Do you even know what you're letting yourself in for Roxas?" Roxas nodded; of course he did.

Everyone knew about the dragons that lived in the wildernesses of this world. Normally they kept away from people and didn't cause any trouble, but a year ago one had moved near to Radiant Garden. The townsfolk had been worried and called on a local hero by the name of Leon to drive it off or kill it. He had never returned, but the next day the dragon had landed in the town square, made its demands and left. It had ordered them to send a virgin out to its cave once a week. It had threatened to destroy the town if they refused.

Roxas turned to the mayor. "If I have to do this, I will." His father made to object, but Roxas cut him off. "I'll take Grandfather's sword. If I have to go, I'll take that monster with me or die trying!" Cloud smiled weakly at his son's bravery.

"I can see there's no stopping you; you're just like your grandfather that way." Roxas nodded and ran off to his room to retrive the sword.

It was a truly wonderful weapon, 'Oathkeeper' his grandfather had called it- a Keyblade. Nobody really remembered where the strange weapons had come from, only that they could be quite picky about who wielded them. Roxas's grandfather, Sora, had been one of the greatest Keyblade Masters in history; some said that though most people could only wield their own Sora had been able to command any Keyblade. 'Oathkeeper' was his own though and it had chosen Roxas when he was a small child but he'd never had a use of the beautiful blade- until now. He pulled its case from under his bed and lifted the Keyblade carefully. It glinted in the light as if greeting its master. Strapping the weapon across his back, he headed outside into the bright sunshine of the town streets. Much of the town had gathered to watch him leave, as they had all the girls who had gone to the dragon before him. They said nothing, but their faces gave away that none of them expected to see him again.

It took the best part of the day, travelling along a well-worn path, to reach the craggy hole in the ground where the dragon lived. He took a deep steadying breath as he peered into the hole, inhaling the faint scent of smoke that hung in the air. Roxas drew Oathkeeper and stepped cautiously down into the hole.

It was pitch black in there once you got away from the entrance and much bigger than Roxas had expected. The tunnel he had entered was like a giant rabbit warren; twisting and turning and branching off in all directions. Roxas was gratefull for the faint glow emanating from the Keyblade in his hand, which had already prevented him from walking into the wall several times. There were rats down there; he could hear them scurrying around and sometimes he thought he could hear larger creatures moving, which set his heart racing, but so far he had not seen or heard any signs of the dragon.

Something sighed heavily behind him. He whirled around, brandishing the heavy Keyblade before him. The creature backed up, shying away from the weapon. Roxas relaxed when he saw that it was just a horse. Wait, why was there a horse down here? It was a powerful-looking warhorse with dark chestnut fur and a long, cream coloured mane and it looked oddly familiar. Something clicked in his brain and he realised it was the hero, Leon's, horse. He stretched out his hand to calm the creature, stroking its huge head. "How did you get down here?" He wondered aloud.

A low, rumbling growl rose from behind Roxas. He spun in alarm, backing up towards the horse. It snorted and backed away as if saying 'you're on your own matey'. In the faint light, Roxas could see a pair of huge green eyes glowing catlike in the blackness. The eyes narrowed as their owner surveyed him, the outline of its body obscuring the tunnel behind it.

"A boy?" A deep, growling voice spoke quietly, "That's a shame. I don't like boys, they always try to play the hero."

"Show yourself!" Roxas yelled, bringing Oathkeeper up in front of him. The voice laughed and the last thing Roxas remembered was something huge and heavy colliding with his head.


	2. Two Dragons

Roxas woke with a thumping head and a stiff back. He lay still for a moment, trying to remember where he was and why his head hurt. Something blew warm air onto his face and his eyelids fluttered opened to be confronted by a pair of ocean blue eyes inches from his face. He yelled and shot upright, his forehead colliding with something solid. He ended up back on the floor as he waited for the world to stop spinning. He sat up again, more slowly this time and looked around him, spotting what, or more precisely who, he had headbutted. A blonde boy with a bizarre haircut was sat on the stone floor of the cave, his hands clasped over his nose. He couldn't have been more than a few years older than Roxas.

"ey, Ax, I dink e's awake." The blonde boy commented through a bleeding nose as he watched Roxas carefully. There was a low chuckle from the next room and a second man entered. He was a tall, skinny young man with heavily spiked, flamingly red hair, teardrop tattoos on his cheeks and brilliant, green, catlike eyes that struck Roxas as horribly familiar.

"Yeah, I can see that. What did you do to make him whack you?" The newcomer laughed, casually observing Roxas as if he was no more than an interesting animal. The blonde looked offended.

"I didn't do anything! He headbutted me!" He cried indignantly. The redhead rolled his eyes.

"Go get something for your nose, 'kay?" The blonde nodded and left, leaving Roxas alone with the newcomer.

Roxas tried to stand but his head started spinning and he sat down heavily. The redhead considered him with the same relaxed, slightly cocky attitude as before. "Hmm, perhaps I whacked you a little too hard?" He thought aloud. Roxas's eyes narrowed.

"Who are you?" he demanded. The headache made him irritable, especially now he was faced with the one responsible. The redhead grinned.

"My name is Axel, but your kind know me as everything from 'monster' to 'that bloody dragon'" Dragon? Roxas's blood ran cold. He was faced with the very monster he had come to kill and he was completely defenceless. He tried to shuffle back but his back hit the cave wall and he knew he was trapped. Roxas stared, his sapphire-coloured eyes wide with newfound fear as his foe knelt down to stare straight back. The dragon-man glared at him.

"Yeah, now you're scared." He spat. "You humans are pathetic, got it memorised? Even when you're not all human."

"Wh-what?" The dragon rolled his eyes.

"You're stupid too. Get up." He dragged Roxas to his feet and crossed to the other side of the cave. Digging around in a pile of small objects and junk, he pulled out Oathkeeper and threw it to Roxas, who caught it clumsily. Axel also pulled out a pair of spiky red wheels that flickered with flame. "You came here to kill me. Let's see you try!"

He flung himself at Roxas, who parried him weakly with his Keyblade. The dragon was superhumanly strong, incredibly fast and seemed to radiate burning heat with every strike. It didn't take him long to knock the Keyblade out of Roxas's hand and throw him to the ground.

"Pathetic. I gave you a fair chance, and you still couldn't even touch me. Bet you don't even know what you are, do you?" He turned his back and stalked off towards the exit. Roxas spotted Oathkeeper lying where it had fallen, a couple of feet from his left hand and grabbed it. Axel looked round as he heard the metal blade scraping against the stone. Unfortunately, that put his face straight in the Keyblade's firing line as Roxas hurled it towards him.

He went flying across the cave, crashed to the floor and didn't move. Roxas advanced on him, lifting Oathkeeper from where it had landed as he went. He kept his eyes locked on the dragon, unsure if he was alive or not. There was no blood on the Keyblade, but that meant nothing.

"Axel, what are you doing in there?" The blonde boy from before peered in, a band-aid stuck over his nose. His eyes widened in shock as he spotted Axel completely out of it in the floor. "What did you do to him!?" He snarled, suddenly seeming a lot larger and more threatening. Roxas backed off, holding the Keyblade out in front of him as the older boy advanced on him, wings flaring. Wait, wings? Ohhh crap... The blonde dragon backed him into a corner, growling. Roxas's heart pounded, seeming to try and get in as many beats as it could in his final moments as the dragon-boy closed in.

A loud groan echoed around the cave. The blonde looked around, distracted as Axel groaned again, clutching his head. He called Axel's name, his voice filled with relief as he trotted over to his redheaded friend. Said redhead sat up, pain in his eyes and a bright red welt across his forehead. "Okay..." Axel moaned, "Maybe you're not so crap, you devious little git."

"Want me to drown him Ax?" the blonde dragon growled. Roxas's breath caught in his throat but Axel shook his head.

"Nah, he's one of us." He replied.

"What are you talking about?" Roxas snarled. "You're dragons, I'm human!" The two dragons looked at each other for a few seconds before simultaneously bursting out into laughter. Roxas felt heat rising in his face. "What's funny?!"

Axel recovered first, whilst the blonde kept laughing. "Oh, can it Demyx." Axel whacked him over the head and he shut up. "You really have no idea who you are do you?" Roxas just looked confused. Axel sighed heavily. "God, don't humans tell their young anything?" Axel rolled his eyes "Jeez, you'd think Sora's offspring would be more open with their child..."

"What's my grandfather got to do with anything?"

"Everything!" Demyx exclaimed. "Tell him the story Axel. He'll love it."

"_You_ love that story Demyx." Axel's eyes were on a rolling spree.

"Yeah, but it's _his_ grandfather."

"I suppose. This could take a while though."


	3. The Legend of Sora

Here it is, the third chapter. Holy moley this is fast for me! Do not expect updates this fast in future- this is only this quick because my internet was down and I already had this half written. Theres a bit too much speech in this chapter, but oh well.

DISCLAMER TIEM!: If you think I own Kingdom Hearts then your imagination must me more overactive than my own.

I do, however, own Kai the horse. Yes, he's real and he's mine .

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"It's a long story, so sit down." Axel said. Roxas sat, not wanting to disobey a dragon who probably had one hell of a headache right now. "You know who your grandfather was to your kind- one of the greatest Keyblade Masters of all time and all that." Roxas nodded. "Well, he wasn't what they thought. Being able to wield multiple Keyblades isn't uncommon- among us dragons, that is." Roxas's eyes widened and Axel grinned. "Yep, you're grandfather was a dragon. But he was pretty special among us as well. Dragons are elemental creatures- we are born with the ability to control an element; I'm fire, Demyx here is water et cetera. Now, some talented dragons can control a second element, but most can't. Sora, on the other hand, could control virtually every element in existance."  
"Except earth and water." Demyx interrupted proudly "We're special."

"Yes, thank you Demyx. Anyway, Sora was quite young when he disappeared and for a long time we believed he was dead. He became a bit of a legend really."  
"What happened?" Roxas asked, feeling exactly the same as he had listening to his grandfather tell of his exploits as a child.

"I'm getting to that. Sora's mate was a beautiful young dragoness called Kairi. They were almost never apart and they cared about each other deeply; Sora would've gone to the ends of the world for her. Unfortunately, she was so desirable that he had to. His best friend was a ryuu dragon called Riku who was strong in the element of darkness. He adored Kairi more than he would ever admit and was very jealous of Sora. So, one night, he kidnapped Kairi whilst Sora was asleep and ran off with her. As soon as Sora found out he was furious and went after him; he may have been his best friend but he couldn't overlook him stealing his mate.

"They met at a ruined castle near your town, you probably know where I'm talking about." Roxas nodded. "They fought for hours, neither willing to give in and give up Kairi to the other. Eventually though, Riku managed to coil himself around Sora so that he couldn't move. Sora knew there was only one way to get out before Riku could kill him- he transformed into a human and summoned the very Keyblade you hold now. Riku wasn't expecting that, and for a while Sora had the upper hand. You see, you humans may be small and weak, but your small size can be an advantage in battle and this is how Sora planned to defeat Riku. Riku soon recovered from the shock and followed suit, summoning his own dark Keyblade. Sora was wounded in the fight, but he managed to drive Riku off before he collapsed. Kairi knew that Sora would not be safe in our world whilst Riku was still around and he was hurt, so she left him by the gates of the nearest human town where she hoped he would be looked after. He was found by a young human girl who took care of him until he had healed, and in that time he fell in love with her. The rest is your family history."

Roxas sat in confused silence after Axel finished. His grandfather had been a hero, dragons were monsters; there was no way he could've been one. Besides, _somebody_ would've noticed if there was a dragon in the town, even if it could change into a human as Axel and Demyx could. But the story had intrigued him, there were a lot of things he wanted to know now.  
"What happened to Kairi?" He asked, not knowing why he was curious about this.

"Kairi? Oh, she's still hanging around. We see her sometimes don't we Demyx?" Demyx nodded. "Riku still lusts after her but she always waited for Sora, hoping he would come back. They're really happy together now."

"What? Her and Grandfather?" Axel nodded. "That's impossible." The redhead raised an eyebrow

"How so?"

"My grandfather died last year. He was about 80, it's not surprising..." Roxas explained, stopping short when Axel started sniggering.

"Dragons live a whole lot longer than humans. By our lifespans, he's about 30 and still going strong. He visits us sometimes."

"Yeah. He's a nice guy, always comes swimming in my lake, even though he's not very good at it." Demyx added. Roxas was warming to the apparent water dragon; he seemed pretty friendly now he'd gotten over Roxas's assault on Axel, if a bit scatterbrained. The redhead himself however he wasn't so sure of; after all he knew what a monster that creature was. Said 'monster' stretched like a cat and lay back on the floor with his hands behind his head, completely at ease in his surroundings. Roxas glared at him, disliking the cocky attitude. Who was he to steal the town's girls (and Roxas himself), then act like he was God or something? Bloody dragons.

Demyx yawned hugely and stood. "I'm going to head home, 'kay Ax?" Axel nodded. The water dragon turned to leave, then stopped as if an important thought had occured to him. He turned back and tugged on Roxas's arm excitedly. "Come on, you have to come and see my lake; it's beautiful!" Roxas allowed himself to be led out through another room in the cave and into the golden light of dusk that bathed the outside world.

Just outside of the cave entrance was a huge lake, its sapphire blue water sparkling in the sun. It was surrounded by lush, green vegetation which obviously housed hundreds of birds, judging by their songs that filtered down to where Roxas stood. Demyx let go of Roxas's hand and ran towards the water, diving in with almost inhuman grace and barely making a splash. A few seconds later, a blue-scaled head reared out of the water. Roxas jumped back in alarm, before realising that this must be Demyx's true form. It was quite a beautiful creature really; a slender, smooth-scaled dragon the same colour as the water he swam in with a blondish, webbed crest down the back of his neck. He dived, flicking his green-finned tail out of the water, and resurfaced near the bank where Roxas stood.

"So, what do you think of _my _home, eh? Better than Axel's smelly old cave anyway." Roxas nodded; he would love to live somewhere like this.

"Hey, my cave is _not_ smelly!" Roxas jumped and whirled round to see Axel standing in the cave mouth, grinning at them. Demyx rolled onto his back and splashed water at him, soaking him thoroughly. "Argh! No, bad water dragon bad!" Axel chuckled, his hair beginning to steam already. He turned to Roxas, still grinning. "Come on you, let's go back in before Demyx soaks you too, I bet you don't dry quite as fast as I do and I don't want you getting ill on me, got it memorised?" Roxas followed him quickly, not wanting to upset the dragon.

Axel led him a little way through the cave, down a passageway he didn't remember from earlier. Of course he didn't; he'd probably been unconscious when he'd passed this part. The passage led to a dingy cavern about 50ft across, or so Roxas guessed. He could hardly see his hand in front of his face in the darkness. Something furry brushed against his hand and he leapt back with a yelp. The horse from before tossed its head and snorted in alarm. Axel chuckled. "Oh, hello Kai, I wondered where you'd gotten to." He said, rubbing the horse's forehead. The newly identified Kai snorted and stamped his foot. Axel grinned. "You're right, he does keep bumping into you doesn't he?" Roxas gave him a confused look. "Kai here belonged to that 'hero' your town sent to kill me. I asked him if he wanted to go back but he said he wanted to stay with me. Smart horse, eh?" Roxas nodded, trying to stifle a yawn. Axel laughed again. "You humans, such low energy levels. You can sleep here tonight, Kai'll keep you company." The horse rubbed his nose against Roxas's hand in a friendly manner and he stroked it gently. Axel turned and left briskly to go about his own business as Roxas explored the cavern, holding on to Kai's mane so that the horse could warn him if he was going to walk into a wall.

Eventually, they found a slightly more comfortable-looking patch of ground and curled up to sleep. The horse was warm and soft, so Roxas ended up using him as a pillow. Kai didn't mind, after all he too was tired from a day spent grazing up on the surface. The life of a horse is a hard one eh?


	4. A Visitor

"Roxas! Roxas!" An insistent female voice permeated the blonde's sleep-filled mind, accompanied by someone shaking him gently. "Wake up!" Roxas opened his eyes and blinked sleepily to see a small, skinny girl with blonde hair and blue eyes not unlike his own staring at him with concern. He sat up quickly, looking at her with wonder.

"Namine?" He whispered, "Namine!" He leapt up and wrapped his arms around former best friend, almost crushing her with the force of his hug. "How is this possible? I thought you were dead!" Everyone had thought she was dead, yet another victim of the monster, Axel. Namine nodded.

"I know you did. But everything is alright now, we're together again." She extracted herself from his embrace and took his hand, smiling. "Come on, I have something to show you."

She led him once again through the subterranian maze that was Axel's home and eventually came to a large cavern similar to the one Roxas had slept in but even larger and with light streaming in from a crack in the ceiling. Hushed voices surrounded him and as his eyes roved the cavern he saw signs of habitation; beds scattered around, a small fire with a frying pan sizzling on it. There were people living down here, but who? He got his answer as a brunette girl collided with him and hugged him hard. "Ollette?" He asked incredulously. Other girls flocked around him as he stood up and stared at them. He knew a lot of them by name and all of the faces were at least familiar to them. He stared in disbelief. Every one of the town's lost girls was in this cave.

They looked well-fed and well-cared for, as if they had never left the town at all. They were not even pale from living underground. But how was it possible? Dragons _ate_ people, they didn't keep them and care for them, did they?

The girls turned as a light clicking of claws came from the cavern entrance. Axel stood in the doorway, a 6ft tall, crimson dragon with piercing green eyes and a crest of red spikes that looked exactly like his human form's hair. He cocked his head and gave a reptilian grin. "Morning girls. I see you found Roxas." A few of the girls laughed and Selphie, who had been the previous week's offering, stared in wonder. Roxas couldn't help staring too. He had never seen the dragon in all his glory and, he had to admit, he was impressed by the beast. Axel sauntered over, locking his eyes on Roxas. Roxas backed away, not noticing that most of the girls showed no fear towards the dragon. Axel laughed, a deep, growly chuckle that set Roxas's hair on end, and licked the blonde's face casually. Namine looked at him questioningly and the dragon laughed again. "I just felt like doing that. The dragon sat down and gazed around at the group of girls. "It sucks, but I have to go visit somebody today. Make Roxas feel welcome and if anyone visits just tell them to leave a message with Demyx, okay?" The girls nodded and a redhead whose name Roxas didn't know put an arm around him and giggled.

Axel turned and left, the girls and Roxas following behind him. He led them out into the chamber Roxas had woken up in the day before and then outside, where he spread his wide, black-membraned wings and threw himself into the sky. He gained height, throwing a loop-de-loop that was much to the girl's delight, before soaring off over the trees. Namine pulled Roxas towards the shore of the lake and sat down, removing her shoes and dangling her feet in the clear blue water. Roxas followed suit, enjoying the feeling of the cool water around his toes. He leaned back on his hands, allowing himself to relax for the first time in 2 days. Closing his eyes, he allowed the sounds of the peaceful place to wrap around him; the birds singing in the trees, the faint splash of a couple of girls swimming in the lake, soft strains of music... wait, music? He opened his eyes and looked around for the source of the sound, his gaze coming to rest on a small group of girls clustered around a raised rock just off the shore.

Demyx, in the form of the blonde boy Roxas had first seen, was sat cross-legged on the rock playing a large, blue, stringed instrument. The music was soft and relaxing, but at the same time playful and enticing; Roxas couldn't help but drum his fingers on the ground to the beat of it. He had to admit: Demyx had some talent. Small waves began to lap at the bottom of the rock, twisting upwards into thin tendrils that twined around the dragon-boy like affectionate snakes and swam through the air as though dancing to the music. Roxas, spellbound by the water and the song, stared at the dragon until the song finished, when he shook his head suddenly as if clearing himself of some hypnosis. Demyx rose to his feet, bowed theatrically to the girls and dived backwards into the lake, emerging, in his true form, a moment later.

The water dragon was hugely entertaining and seemed to love showing off to his audience. Roxas spent the next hour watching him converse with various groups of girls, darting off randomly to chase Yuffie and Ollette, who had decided to go swimming and paddled off giggling as Demyx leapt out of the water over their heads and splashed them with his tail. He seemed to have boundless energy; Roxas couldn't understand how somebody could be so energetic all the time. He asked Namine, but she had just shrugged and gone back to sketching the lake. She had always liked to draw, Roxas recalled, and he had always enjoyed watching her; her talent had always amazed him. Not really surprising considering he had difficulty drawing stick people.

Roxas must've fallen asleep in the sun, because he was awoken by a cry going up amongst the girls. He leapt to his feet, summoning Oathkeeper (then dropping it in astonishment when he realised the weapon had appeared from nowhere). A shadow fell across the grass and he looked up to see a dragon sillhoutted against the sun. It dropped lower and lower, its powerful wings eventually causing the grass to flatten on every beat, before eventually alighting gently and folding its wings against its body gracefully.

The dragon was midnight blue with dark purple wing membranes and blonde fur on the tip of its tail. It was smaller and skinnier than Axel, and its head was adorned only with simple, swept back black horns, but it looked tough and wiry and its golden eyes seemed to dare the world to challenge it. It spotted Namine and casually wandered over to her, dropping its head as it approached. "Hey, Namine, is Axel here?" She, for it spoke with a female voice, asked cheerily. Namine reached up and rubbed the dragon's nose, then shook her head.

"Sorry Kirin, he's out for the day." she explained. The dragon sighed heavily.

"Well then, I guess I'm just going to have to stay here until he gets back." The dragon sat down on the grass, turning her gaze to Roxas. She examined him for a few seconds, then her face cracked into a massive, fang-laden grin. "You must Axel's latest pet." She held out a talon. "I'm Kirin, and you are...?" Roxas scowled at being referred to as a 'pet', but shook her clawed hand anyway.

"I'm Roxas." Kirin's eyes widened in recognition.

"Roxas? You must be Sora's grandson then? Wow! Never thought I'd really meet you." Roxas raised an eyebrow. "You're practically famous amongst our kind. Your grandad's a bit of a celebrity himself and he never shuts up about you- makes out you're freaking wonderful." Wonderful? Him? No way!

Kirin indeed stayed until Axel's return at sunset. The great red dragon swooped down low over the trees, obviously going for trick-flying. Unfortunately, he messed it up, crashed into a tree, went head over heels and crashed into Demyx's lake. He emerged a few seconds later in human form, his normal spiky mane flopping over his eyes. He clambered out of the water, avoiding Kirin's eys as she smirked at his mistake. He glared at Demyx, who leaned against the bank and chuckled. "Yeah yeah, very funny waterboy. Just wait til I chuck you in a volcano, let's see how you laugh then." Axel growled. The water dragon meeped and dived under the surface of the lake. Axel then turned to Kirin and grinned. "Kirin, The Rebellious Patriot. I am _honoured_. What brings you here?" Kirin bent her head down to his human level.

"Thought you might like to hear the latest gossip. A lot of it involves you, actually, and not all of it's good. The Flurry of Dancing Flames has become the name on everyone's lips." The blue dragon gave a wry smile. "Personally, I was wondering how much of it is true."

"Well then, we've got quite a bit to talk about." Axel stalked past the dragon, grabbing hold of her horn and pulling her after him. Roxas barely heard his next words, despite leaning in to listen. It sounded something like 'I doubt I want them to hear this.'


	5. Revelations and Rememberings

Okay, it kinda sucks but things are finally starting to move a bit. I'm toying with putting in a past relationship between Roxas and Namine... say what you think in a review. I haven't written _any_ pairings before- I'm a comedy writer, not a romance, so this is new for me. I'm trying to stick in bits of canon, but i dont know how successful that's been... yeah.

Yes, I am aware that I've been screwing with the geography and the clock tower is NOT in fact in Radiant Garden, but this is AU so please dont flame me about that. eheh.

So, enjoy .

Ps: O.o Jesus I never write author notes this long, you want a KH story not my _life_ story, right?

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Roxas watched as Axel and Kirin headed off into the cave. Demyx flopped up beside him and whistled, making Roxas jump. "Oooh this is bad!" Roxas stared at the cave entrance, trying to see what was going on inside, but the dragons had moved too far in to be visible. "What do you mean? She doesn't seem so bad." Demyx shook his head vigorously, spraying Roxas with water droplets.

"Axel _never_ keeps secrets from me and the girls. _Never!_ He must think it's something really, really bad or he'd let Kirin say it in front of us." He fretted. "Damn I want to know what's going on now!"

-(Inside the cave)-

"What?" Axel's firey green eyes narrowed as he glared at the young dragoness.

"Xemnas knows about the humans." She repeated, her tail lashing. "And he wants to see you. I'm pretty damn sure you heard me the first time." Axel snarled, summoning a ball of fire and hurling it at the cave wall.

"Damn! How could he have found out? Only a few of my friends know about them..." He dropped his head, thinking hard, "Vexen's an ass, but he doesn't like our noble leader anyway... Xiggy's too sly; he'd keep it for blackmail... Saix didn't know or I'd suspect him straight away, that dickwad." His eyes met Kirin's accusingly, "Wasn't you was it?" The dragoness drew herself up indignantly.

"I'm no snitch!" She snarled. "Jeez, what do you take me for Axel? I'm your friend first, Mansex's lackey second." A smirk ghosted over Axel's features at their leader's nickname, then his tail flicked in irritation.

"So who do you think it was?" Kirin shrugged.

"I don't know and quite frankly I don't care. Just watch your back with Xemnas. You _know_ what he's like about humans and you keeping them as pets isn't going to rub him the right way." Axel nodded thoughtfully.

"I'll watch it." He grinned. "Besides, there's nothing he can do about it- I'll fight him before I let anything happen to my humans."

"Why do you do it anyway? Keeping them here, even though you know it's dangerous?" Axel sighed heavily.

"To be honest, not a clue. I guess... I guess I just want them to realise that we're not so bad. Humans hate us and you and I both know that it hasn't always been that way." Kirin nodded thoughtfully.

"You're a shit liar Axel." The fire dragon's eyes widened and he did a double take.

"WHAT?!"

"You can't get a mate in the dragon world, so you're looking for a human one. You're not the first to do it and I'll take on Sora with my wings tied if you're the last." Axel muttered something unsavoury and Kirin rolled her eyes. Damn perceptive brat.

"Well so what?" Axel said hauntily, "Who cares?"

"Xemnas will." Kirin replied shortly. Axel growled irritably and muttered yet more unsavoury language. Kirin's eyes widened. "Somehow I don't think attempting to mate with him will help your case very much."

"Well you don't have to tell him. If he asks, just lie and say it wasn't true. He doesn't _know_ for sure yet, right? That's why he _sent _you; why he wants to see me." Kirin looked guilty.

"Yeah... he kinda did send me. Don't worry 'bout it though. I'm not about to spill the beans on a friend. You may not be my Mate, but I still want to protect you." She crossed the gap between them and wrapped her tail through his affectionately. He flicked the younger dragon's tail away grumpily.

"I don't need protecting."

-(Outside)-

"Roxas are you okay?" Roxas snapped out of his thoughts and glanced up to see Namine looking at him curiously. He nodded and she sat beside him, opening her sketchbook on her lap. He smiled as she began to draw. Boy did that bring back memories...

_Roxas bolted across the square towards the great clock tower that could be seen from every part of the town. He yelled back to Namine and Ollette, laughing at the girls' inability to keep up with him. He halted in the shadow of the tower, staring up and spotting two pairs of feet dangling over the ledge. Hayner and Pence were already here, then. The three children ran up the steps that led to the top, stopping and panting for breath only when they emerged into the afternoon sunshine of Radiant Garden. Hayner waved at them and they sat, dangling their legs over the side of the tower as they always did. This place was their hangout; they were the only children brave enough (or perhaps stupid enough) to come up here. _

_"Hey guys, look what I found." Pence spoke suddenly, attracting everyone's attention. He pulled an ornate trophy from somewhere that all of them recognised. "Remember this?" Roxas nodded._

_"Yeah, it's that Struggle tournament trophy I won last year." Hayner laughed_

_"That was a good day! We finally got to show up Seifer." Ollette giggled as Pence pulled off the four large, coloured crystals that adorned the trophy and handed one to Roxas, Ollette and Hayner. _

_"Sorry, Namine, there's only 4" He apologised weakly. Namine shrugged, it was okay. She hadn't been at the tournament; her father had dragged her on a business trip to Traverse Town, one of the biggest cities in the area. _

_Roxas looked at the blue crystal in his hand before holding it up towards the sun, enjoying the way it caught the light and seemed to glow. This crystal was the same colour as his eyes and he'd always liked it for that reason. The others copied him, except for Namine who pulled out the sketchbook that she always kept on her person and began scribbling away frantically, her eyes locked on the four friends. _

_None of them remembered quite how long they sat there, lost in their own little worlds and this place, this action, that carried a whole year's worth of memories. They'd lost count of how many times they'd come up here and watched the sun set through the crystals, but it never, ever got boring. By the time they snapped out of it, Namine had been able to finish her sketch. Roxas leaned over to see what had been drawn on the page and gasped. The picture was like a photograph in pencil, Namine's talent apparent in every line. He had asked for the picture, and she had given it to him after making him promise to take good care of it... _

Roxas snapped out of the memory. He still had that picture, locked safely in the little box in his room at home where he kept everything important to him. Namine had been more important to him than anyone, he remembered. He'd been distraught when he'd discovered that she had been sent to Axel's lair, back when he had believed the dragon to be a monster. Roxas still wasn't quite sure, but he didn't seem as bad as everyone at home made him out to be.

Namine nudged his shoulder and slid her sketchbook onto his lap. He looked down at a rough picture of himself; not as good as the one she had done on the clock tower but still pretty good. He frowned. Did he really look so brooding just then? Namine looked concerned. "Don't you like it?" Roxas jumped and nodded quickly.

"Yeah, I do. Just... thinking, that's all." Namine laughed.  
"You're doing a lot of that today. Is it about Axel? This must've changed a lot for you." Roxas nodded.  
"Finding out that the greatest demon in your life isn't so bad, finding out that your dead best friend is really alive, finding out Grandfather wasn't who I thought he was, finding out _I'm _not who I thought I was... It's a lot to take in, you know?" Namine gave him an understanding look and leaned her head on his shoulder.  
"You'll get it eventually. Maybe then I'll get back the carefree, fun loving Roxas I knew."  
"Yeah."

Axel chose that moment to stride out into the sun. Demyx hopped out of the water onto his rock, keen for news. "What did she say? What did she say?" He demanded, leaning towards the red dragon at a dangerous angle. Axel growled as the blonde managed to spray him with water droplets.  
"The Superior wants to see me." Demyx hissed and nearly fell backwards off the rock. "And _yes, _it does have something to do with the girls. I want to take Roxas with me, you know, show him Hollow Bastion and others of our kind."

This time, Demyx really _did_ fall off the rock, landing with a splash and emerging with a horrified expression. "Are you crazy?! Mansex'll kill him! A human, at Hollow Bastion... that hasn't happened for centuries!"  
"He won't. Even Xemnas wouldn't dare harm Sora's kin, and besides, Roxas isn't a human- he's a half-breed. I have a few days before I have to go, I can use that time to find out if he can pass for one of us. Most half-breeds can." Demyx sighed through his nose, evidently still thinking that Axel was a few sparks short of a fire, as it were.  
"I guess. But there's no way he can master it in a few days. It takes pure dragons months, even years to perfect." Axel snorted.  
"He doesn't need to perfect it. He only needs to do it once."

"Do what?" Roxas couldn't resist butting in. The two dragons seemed to have forgotten him, and lets face it, nobody likes being talked about without being included.  
"You're a half-dragon. That means you can do what we can do; you can shapeshift. I'll teach you how, if you want to learn." Axel explained, turning to include him. There was something in his emerald eyes that showed that he desperately wanted the blonde to say yes. And Roxas did.  
Axel practically leapt into the air; his jaws cracking into a wide grin and his wings flaring as his tail wagged, almost like a dog. "Great! Let's get started!"


	6. Shapeshifting

**I am very, very sorry about the distinct lack of updates on this story. I haven't really been writing anything for quite a while, what with exams and school and life and lack of inspiration and whatnot. You may want to go back to the last chapter and re-read that, because I've basically re-written the second half of it, and this chapter will make no sense if you haven't seen the edits.**

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Axel led him away from Demyx's pool, out through the forest to a smaller, sun-dappled glade carpeted in grass and flowers like red daisies. It was extraordinary peaceful, no sound but the chirping of birds and the pair's own breathing permeating the trees. Roxas stared in wonder, taking in all the beauty around him. Axel chirped, the dragon equivalent of a whistle, to catch his attention. Roxas turned to watch him as he transformed himself into his human form; his shape seemed to shudder and fold in on itself as he shrank and pulled himself upright and his skin changed colour, his crest softened into the spiked-up hair and his wings folded around him and formed into a black cloak which clung closely to his body, which was still as leggy and scrawny as his dragon form.

Axel grinned as he noticed the younger boy's stare. "What, you've seen this before." Roxas mentally shook himself and forced himself to concentrate.  
"How do I do it?" Despite the nerves that could be expected when about to learn how to make one's body drastically change shape and size, he was excited and it showed. Axel's grin stayed put.  
"Keen, aren't you? You do know that this is dangerous?"  
"What?"  
"Oh yeah, nasty stuff can happen if you're not careful the first time. Once heard about a young dragon who tried going human and wound up with his butt on backwards and one of his eyes on his elbow." He spotted Roxas' horrified face and gave him a reassuring smile. "It's okay though; you can usually fix it the next time you shapeshift. You still so keen?"

Not quite, but Roxas' was determined to learn. He was stubborn, and now he had been told he could do something he wanted to do it.

Axel told him to close his eyes and concentrate hard, to imagine himself changing shape and size, to see himself as a dragon in his mind, perfect in every detail. That was very important, Axel said. Roxas did as he was told, picturing the dragon. He didn't know what his own dragon form would look like, so he made it up. Much shorter and stockier than Axel; a heavier build but overall smaller; brilliant golden scales; powerful, long-fingered wings, delicate yet strong attached to his shoulders with the membrane running to his hips; a crest of golden spines with two long, black horns and black spines down his back, spiky fur on his tail. Yes, that was what he looked like, or would look like.

He felt a strange tingling sensation start up in his hands, his feet, his scalp, everywhere. He gasped, and heard Axel tell him to relax and concentrate, encouraging him. He gritted his teeth as the tingling became almost painful and he could feel his body growing, changing. A pained, inhuman growl erupted from lips that were no longer quite human, he fell forward onto all fours as his legs changed shape and he almost screamed as wings burst from his back; it hurt! His legs buckled and he fell onto his chest, panting hard and clenching clawed fists to try and ignore the pain and eventually it was over, leaving his body feeling alien and weak.

Footsteps approached, and he felt Axel crouch beside him, a soft, human hand resting on his neck, which was now a foot or two longer. His eyes cracked open, and he saw those emerald eyes gazing down at him, radiating concern. "You okay Roxy?" He asked, then his face lit up as Roxas lifted his head and nodded clumsily, still unused to the new muscles. He pulled his arms, now longer, stronger front legs, up under him and pushed himself up, scrambling to his feet a little too quickly and tottering like a newborn foal. Axel stepped back to avoid getting stepped on and chuckled at the younger boy's efforts. "Don't hurt yourself." Roxas tried to say that he wouldn't, but all that came out was a mangled growl, which Axel apparently found hilarious. "You'll have to learn to talk too; can't have you making comments like that in front of other dragons, got it memorised?" A cocked head and confused look from Roxas, "Oh, you just said something rather nasty and grammatically messed up about my mother." He baulked, resolving to not do that again.

Axel shapeshifted, then told Roxas that they were going back. He then stalked off, leaving Roxas to follow behind and try and get the hang of having two extra feet and a tail that seemed intent on tripping him up until he worked out how to hold it off the ground. It didn't take too long though; about 10 minutes into the trip a golden shape shot straight past Axel, prompting the red dragon to go tearing after it in the manner of exciteable creatures everywhere.

Axel's long legs and experience meant he won the impromptu race back to Demyx's lake, where he stopped on the shore to let Roxas catch up to him; he'd been left far behind by the lanky dragon. What Axel wasn't expecting was Roxas to still be going full pelt when he emerged from the trees, and not to have worked out how to use the brakes just yet. He cannoned into the older dragon and sent both of them crashing into the lake, much to the amusement of its resident water dragon. Luckily, that was the shallower end.

Roxas flailed in the water for a moment until his feet hit the bottom and he dug his claws into the silt for balance, then looked apologetically over at where Axel... should have been. "Akkk...sssssell?" He growled, looking around. Something grabbed his leg and he virtually leapt out of the water as Axel shot up, hitting him with a miniature tidal wave as he flapped frantically to get to the shore, where he clung to the land as though it was the only thing saving him from drowning. Demyx was busy laughing his arse off as Axel glared daggers at him, water dripping from his spines. Roxas gave him a questioning look, a smile spreading over his now-lizardy features. "Fire dragon." Axel growled, "Water is NOT good!"

Demyx managed to recover from his giggle fit long enough to notice Roxas. "Hey, Axel, look at him! He dragons up well, for a half-breed." He remarked as Roxas pulled himself out of the water. Axel was on his feet now, studying the younger dragon. "Yeah... I didn't notice before. He really does." And Roxas saw himself reflected in the water, and had to admit he did. The sunlight gleamed off his spines and horns, shorter than he'd pictured but shiny black and gold, along with the golden scales and huge, leathery yellow wing-membranes that were almost see-through. He turned his head, examining his long, reptilian snout and noting that his eyes were still the exact same shade of blue, only now the pupil was a little more slitted. And Axel's reflection was standing right behind him. He spun round to face the red dragon, suddenly defensive. Axel didn't move, just grinned at him. "Yeah, it's weird the first couple of times you see yourself, and you look like your own worst nightmare. C'mon, I gotta teach you to talk." He headed back towards his cave, then turned around when he realised Roxas wasn't following him. "Hey, come on! Can't have you embarrassing yourself." Roxas shook the last of the water from his scales and trotted after him.


End file.
